1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a universal rack loading/unloading system and more particularly pertains to providing a series of automated apparatus cooperating one with the other for material handling, by unloading material from a flatbed trailer for processing within a industrial plant environment and reloading the processed material on to a flatbed trailer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of an overhead crane and rail system for moving materials is known in the prior art. More specifically, overhead cranes heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of industrial lifting are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
In most processing plants the material is unloaded from the truck and placed in a staging area. The material is generally removed through the use of a forklift. Once the material is completely unloaded, another forklift truck will carry a few pieces of material to the black metal jigging area where they are negotiated onto a rack in preparation of galvanizing. Industrial plant use a variety of methods to unload the trucks, move the material from the staging area to conveyor for moving to the processing area, then loading the material for processing. The procedure is reversed once the material has been processed.
By way of example, the prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,217 to Halbig et al. Halbig et al. has a rail-type conveyor system that has dispatching and receiving stations with self propelling container trucks. In Halbig the container trucks have unlockable loading and/or loading means. Further, the dispatching and/or receiving stations have at least one stopping point with the delivery and/or receiving means for automatic loading and/or unloading. The receiving means contains a catch basket and a rail section that is pivotally mounted about a pivot axis on its unloading side. The rail section has two current carrying rails and a control rail for controlling a container truck. The material being unloaded from the container truck is loaded into the catch basket. The catch basket is moved along the rail track of the station. The unloading and loading of the material from the container truck of this invention differs greatly from applicants. In Halbig, the bed of the container truck rotates between stations for loading and unloading. Each of the stations has a catch basket mounted onto a rail system for movement of the material. The material is loaded from the side of the truck bed. Our invention does not require movement of the truck bed and the loading and unloading is done from over the truck bed.
One of the more recent bridge crane apparatus is U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,050 to Lange. The bridge crane of Lang has two transverse bearers that extend parallel to one another and constitute a track for the traveling crane and folding lateral parts, respectively pivoted at the ends of the bearers, for selective extension of the track. The crane is used for loading and unloading materials from ships.
Another development in systems for unloading and loading material in an industrial plant and movement of the material for processing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,120 to Bernard, II et al. Bernard teaches an integrated warehousing system for storing and retrieving goods as well as preparing the goods for their ultimate disposition. The system is an automated system that has a continuous series of mechanisms that are integrated to efficiently manage warehousing material handling operations. A part of the system is a conveyor network for delivering selected containers from the storage carousel to the work center with a control means. The storage carousel is made up of a rack that supports containers of material. The containers of material are moved about a table type of conveyor between the storage carousel and the work center.
When handling elongated material jigs are used. One such jig is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,766 to Dahl. The jig handles packs of elongated material and is adapted to support the pack of material during handling and bringing it to the appropriate position in front of the input opening of the rack for the transfer of the loaded material to the rack. The jug of Dahl has a length that corresponds to the length of the material to be handled. The jig has a frame structure and transverse rollers journaled across the frame's width. The jig has fork receiving means for receiving the forks of a forklift truck for transporting. This process is slow and time consuming because the material still has to be handled by another loading apparatus for processing.
Monorail systems are commonly used for transporting material in a plant environment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,031 to Densmore teaches a monorail suspended conveyor system. This systems conveys materials along a curviliner path and has a plurality of tandemly disposed belt supporting carriages.
Another overhead crane system is the universal gentry crane of U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,641 to Campbell et al. This patent teaches a traveling gantry crane with a shuttle girder and a load carrying trolley mounted for movement along the shuttle girder. The shuttle girder has a hoisting trolley that travels a distance twice as long s the travel distance of the shuttle girder. Further, the shuttle girder and the load carrying trolley operate in a side-by-side arrangement with each other and with the bridge girder in order to provide minimum interference with the movement of each, and maximum outreach of the shuttle girder and load carrying trolley with respect to the bridge girder of the gantry.
An earlier overhead crane apparatus is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,936 to Staadt. This overhead crane is adapted for universal movement in a horizontal plane. The crane includes a pair of bridge members that span the width of an industrial plant and has guide wheels adapted to be driven along rails running longitudinally along the sides of the plant.
In the prior art a tractor and a flatbed trailer loaded with metal shapes to be galvanized enters a plant. Usually the tractor and flatbed is weighted on a scale. The Driver enters the scale house office and presents his load manifest and receives truck weight, paperwork computer generated material and identification tags. Enough metal tags will be issued to identify the customers' material during all stages of the galvanizing process. Therefore, this material can be traced at any time. The Tags are attached to a universal rack when the material is jigged.
The universal rack loading/unloading system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides a system primarily developed for the purpose of allowing a series of automated apparatus to cooperate one with the other for material handling from the flatbed trailer and providing for continuous movement from the flatbed until processed within an industrial plant environment.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved universal rack loading/unloading system which can be used for providing a series of automated apparatus cooperating one with the other for material handling and processing within an industrial plant environment. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.